Fun ‘Twin Peaks’ parody airs tonight courtesy of S.A. actor

This is a damn fine cup of TV – and you can thank a San Antonio native for serving it to us.

Yes, the long-anticipated “Twin Peaks” tribute episode of “Psych” – the brainchild of Taft High alumnus James Roday – airs at 9 tonight on USA Network.

It is fun, hilariously silly and utilizes so many references to the original David Lynch ABC drama that “Peaks” fans can’t help but be amused.

(Just don’t go in expecting a serious homage to the 1990 show; then, you, like my husband, as diehard a “Peaks” devotee as you’ll find, may be a bit let down.)

Making it all the more entertaining is the cast (see photo) of this parody; many “Peaks” originals reappear. Sherilynn Fenn, Sheryl Lee, Dana Ashbrook, Robyn Lively, Lenny Von Dohlen, Catherine Coulson and Ray Wise all provide laughs with humorous riffs on their original characters.

Listen for Sherilynn’s mention of “cherry” and the dog-howling by the town’s young heartthrob; and watch for the appearance of Coulson carrying (and talking to?) a log. I also smiled when Wise first entered . . . in priest garb.

The spoofing is constant and clever, and the repartee between Shawn and Gus has never been sharper and funnier.

The plot: Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dul&eacute; Hill) – the dual version here of Kyle MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper – receive a weird e-mail inviting them to the Cinnamon Festival in Dual Spires, a quirky town so small it’s listed in parentheses on the map. They arrive to find heavenly homemade pie and a damn fine cup of . . . cider.

More importantly, they become involved in a mystery: the drowning death of a teenage girl, who, yes, is found wrapped in plastic.

Lee, who played original victim Laura Palmer, said it was a stunner when she first glimpsed the “Psych” girl wrapped in plastic. “I actually did feel as if I was out of my body that whole day. It was a very strange surreal feeling, mostly because, you know, it’s hard to understand how that much time went by that quickly and I remember that day, for me, as if it was yesterday,” she told TV critics in a recent teleconference call.

Lee added: “There’s a lot of things in the past 20 years I don’t remember, but that day 20 years ago laying on that beach in the freezing cold, I remember as if it was yesterday. And so, it was very, very surreal and it was more – it touched me deeper than I expected it to.”

To get the full impact of the episode, make sure you either watch its first airing tonight – or record it – as it will be eight minutes longer than the usual “Psych,” and the extra footage won’t be included in repeats.

Also cool is the ”Twin Peaks”-inspired, slowed-down synthesized version of the “Psych” theme song with original “Peaks” vocalist Julee Cruise providing the singing.

“I can’t say that I’ve ever been more proud of anything we’ve accomplished on our show than I am of this Twin Peaks episode,” Roday said during another USA call.

Lee couldn’t thank the S.A.-born actor enough for coming up with this tribute to his No. 1 favorite TV show. “I keep telling everyone it was such an incredible gift that James and everyone that’s a part of ‘Psych’ gave us, because some of us hadn’t seen each other from Twin Peaks in years and years. And it’s such a wonderful group of people.”

Lee added: “It’s hard to believe that 20 years have gone by, but to be able to see these people who have such a special place in my heart. It was really wonderful.”